Month: May 2013

Sad times: this will be my last post. That's right. Geography
being what it is, I am drawn back to Manchester. Just can’t
keep myself away from the mushy peas.

I've had a wonderful time here. I want to thank everyone here at
Wiedens for putting in the effort to give me a great start in planning. I’ve really seen the ins and
outs of how an agency works and how planning fits into the process of producing
adverts. I’ve been able to work on some amazing brands, even presenting my own
research to clients (one client presentation left to go!). It’s been great for
so many reasons, and I’m going to carry the lessons I’ve learnt here with me
for a long time.

A big thanks to Jen Lewis for organizing
the placement and getting me involved in a huge amount of awesome stuff. Also to Theo,
Georgia, Paulo, Tom, and all the rest for letting me muck in here and there. You've all been great.

This is me signing off. Keep your eyes
peeled for the next planning intern, likely to contribute their own particular flavor
of madness to the blog. Cheers!

What a wonderfully grey morning it is here in foggy Laandan taan today – hopefully this bright shaft of Internet will illuminate up the darkest of crevices.

There have been some notable highlights (or lowlights depending on how you look at them) online this week which I'll run through in the usual style.

Last Friday, the Fresh Prince and Carlton reunited briefly on the Graham Norton show to reprise some of their greatest work from the mid-nighties. It was glorious and has been taking the world by storm since it aired. This was part of a well-orchestrated attack by Smith on the British media in support of his new blockbuster flick, which was followed by an appearance at an FA event at the weekend. He was invited to take part in a penalty shootout against his son and all I can say in the matter is that despite his machismo persona, he is so so bad at football.

'Oud' was the biggest riser in search terms this week after some predictable stupidity from the contestants in The Apprentice. It continues to display the strong relationship between TV and search behaviours when it comes to dual screening.

This week also saw the continuation of a very public meltdown from American teen starlet Amanda Bynes. She's having a bit of a Britney phase at the moment and is using Twitter as her way of having a go at EVERYONE it seems. She's also pierced her cheeks, dissed Rihanna, allegedly threw a bong out of her apartment window and has shaved part of her hair off. Social media makes it very easy nowadays for people's bad patches to turn up to 11.

Last week Jack Wilshere went back to his school in Hitchin. He watched a football training practice from the sidelines and selected the kid whose attitude and skills impressed him most. That kid was Jason Kelly. His reward? To be the first in the world to wear the new Nike England shirt. Not bad for a Monday afternoon kick around at school.

The world went a little crazy for the new England kit, as created by Nike and worn by Jason. We’re not surprised. The smart white shirt, the iconic blue collar, the golden trim on the Three Lions badge and the 150th anniversary ribbon. Very sharp indeed.

Today the shirt makes its on-pitch debut. Whilst the match against the Republic of Ireland is called a friendly, no one believes more than Nike that every game matters. Though they designed the shirt with innovation and embroidered the three lions on its chest, Nike knows that it's the players on the pitch that have the ability to really make it matter. Team Nike at W+K have made a series of films that see Theo Walcott, Wayne Rooney and Jack Wilshere preparing for their England duty. Their ability to make the shirt matter is celebrated by Nike.

Theo :

Wayne:

Jack:

We can’t predict the score but we can be sure that the eleven men who line up in the new kit tonight will truly understand they have the power to make it matter. Next stop, the Maracana.

It's been a crazy week this week. But I suspect that's a bit of an understatement.

Besides the destructive events that occurred in Oklahoma, there were also the shocking events that took place in Woolwich this week. I've decided not to include some of the videos that came out of those events due to their potentially upsetting nature but they're available online if you want to take a look.

This week we’ve completed our Innovation and Integration team line up by welcoming back Beth Bentley. After four and a half years away – at the Government and as Deputy Head of Planning at Adam & Eve/DDB – Beth returns as Digital Strategy and Innovation Director. She brings with her experience including running the Google, Google+ and YouTube business, as we welcome her back into the family fold. One of her main tasks will be identifying opportunities where innovation can support our clients' business in a meaningful and effective new way..

This is Beth:

This is what she has to say: "We live in a golden age of planning. We've never had more ways to bring a creative idea to life. Treating 'digital' as an addendum to a brief, or even as a singular 'channel', is a shame and a waste. W+K is built on thinking, doing and making stuff that's never been done before. To play a key role in digital strategy and innovation thinking here, with these clients, and this team, is incredibly exciting."

Beth’s role sees her work alongside two recent starters whose faces have already adorned this blog. Mr Jim Hunt, our Technical Director, ensures tech excellence throughout the agency and across all departments. He already has one eye on making sure we partner with world class suppliers and the other making sure we ‘make more’ to prototype stage. And Mr Luke Tipping, who helped shape 101, is already putting creative and media innovation plus emerging tech at the heart of all we do here.

This is Jim on the left. Luke is on the right:

Two familiar faces complete our innovation jigsaw. Danielle Stewart includes Interactive in her production box of tricks in addition to her Head of Broadcast role and Graeme Douglas moves to ICD. In his own words, “We’re in the business of concepting and creating brilliant ideas that work. That will never change. They’ll just be more integrated and relevant that ever before.”

First things first: Beth will be straight back in at the deep end this week, hotly tipped to host tomorrow's drinks trolley. Dig out the Dubonnet, there’ll be Bentley cocktails all round.